It would have made matters for Australian companies worse and years of consultation pointless.

Since the GFC, corporate treasurers have argued for a change to accounting standards to allow the “time value" of options (the premium paid to buy them) to be booked in a “reserve" account, as opposed to the profit and loss statement as is now required.

Treasurers argue accounting standards discouraged the use of options, which are more costly initially than instruments such as forward foreign exchange contracts, but provide much greater protection in volatile times.

In a rare win, their wishes were about to come true. But buried in a last-minute review of the standard, the IASB added a clause that would make changes in currency basis spreads – for example, a bank charge for exchanging offshore debt into local currency – booked in the P&L. This clause overturned the pre-GFC convention.

What should be done with these charges has been a “nagging issue" for years, says Steve Cunico, a partner at Deloitte.

“Under the existing standards, solutions had emerged which allowed you to defer a lot of the volatility [of these] to the reserve."

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Before the GFC the change wouldn’t have been controversial. But the rapid opening and closing of various funding markets since then has caused rushes on raising in different markets and spikes in demand for fund swaps. The charge for doing this has therefore also been much more volatile.

A relatively inactive local bond market and higher reliance on offshore funding meant the change would hit local companies more than most and protests flooded in to the IASB.

The standard is due to be issued in March and it appears the IASB will do an about-face.

IASB staff will propose several solutions to the IASB board on January 29. Cunico says they will essentially recommend the basis swap movements be booked in a reserve account, instead of the P&L.

The IASB has been making a big effort to consult more since new chairman Hans Hoogervorst arrived a couple of years ago. But the episode perhaps shows the gulf that still exists between those who draft the rules and those who have to apply them.